the best show at westminster. >> i've been bashing this dog and now he'll be on set with us. >> he's going to be joining us and then we'll tell you a wonderful valentine's day tale, a couple married 82 years. get the secret of their success. >> good for them. meanwhile "cnn newsroom" with carol costello begins right now. happening now, in "the newsroom." >> hey you! come here! [ gunfire ]. >> breaking overnight a new twist in the manhunt for christopher dorner. >> the reports earlier that a body was found inside were unconfirmed. >> reporter: the accused cop killer burying himself in this cabin set ablaze. this morning, charred remains of a body have been found inside. from the shoot-out inleka ic california to the state of our union. >> gabby give fords deserves a

vote, the families of newtown deserve a vote, the families of aurora deserve a vote. >> the plead from the president for congress to vote on tougher gun laws. watergate, marco rubio and the bottle. did that really just happen? and beyonce's new film, "life is but a dream." >> people see celebrities and they have money and fame, but i'm a human being. i cry. i get scared. i get nervous, just like everyone else. >> reporter: we are on the red carpet for the l.a. premiere. find out why oprah says this is a game changer. >> this "life is but a dream" is so fiercely empowering. "newsro" good morning, thank you so much for being with me. i'm carol costello. we begin in southern california where an accused killer ex-cop is believed dead, his reign of

terror over. police say it will take days to confirm that a body found inside this cabin is actually christopher dorner, the former los angeles cop who had vowed deadly vengeance for his firing. this is video from outside the cabin from cbs. he was spotted yesterday near big bear lake. he crashed a stolen car and then carjacked another vehicle from a camp ranger who happened to be on the scene. >> he came up to me with his gun pointed at me and i stopped my truck, put it in park, raised my hands and he said "i don't want to hurt you. get out and start walking up the road and take your dog" which is what i did. >> that triggered a short chase to the cabin where he opened fire on deputies as they converged. listen to the ferocious shoot-out captured on a reporter's cell phone. [ gunfire ]

once dorner was cornered, the expert marxman killed one deputy and wounding another, that follows the trail of victims from last week, he's accused of killing river side police officer michael crain and earlier killing keith lawrence and his fiance mondica qua in n daughter of the person who defended him. casey wian is at the los angeles police department where investigators are filling in the blanks and lending his law enforcement expertise assistant fbi director tom fuentes. tom, take us through what happened last night. >> reporter: absolutely high drama, high in the mountains. let's give you a sense of what happened on this chaotic and eventful day here in the big bear area.

>> shots fired, four, five shots fired. >> reporter: what happened in the mountains around big bear fast moving and often confusing. two maids are reportedly tied up, their nissan stolen. law enforcement on the lookout. >> they were driving down highway 32 and approaching two buses. >> reporter: the pursuit was on. within moments he crashes a pickup truck, the suspect who looks like a man like christopher dorner. the suspect rolls down the window and opens fire and a shoot-out ensues, he tacks off and barricades himself inside a cabin. police converge by land and highway 32 and approaching two air, then another shoot-out captured on a reporter's cell

phone. [ gunfire ] radio calls from the officers. >> returning fire. >> reporter: and then -- >> we have an officer down, officer down. >> reporter: one deputy is killed, another wounded and expected to survive. the cabin goes up in flames. >> we have ammo explosions. >> reporter: the question is kris cover dorner inside that cabin? over the next few hours, confirmations, denials and duelling news conferences. >> any reports of a body being found are not true. >> we believe that the person that barricaded himself inside the cabin and engaged in gunfire with our deputies and other law

enforcement officers is still inside there. >> reporter: finally, close to midnight pacific time, the san bernardino sheriff's office confirms charred remains have indeed been found inside the burned out cabin. and now back here live, one more little interesting bit about dorner, apparently he was using two school buses to try to use as cover or hide behind as he went to escape down the mountain. back to you. >> so frightening. paul vercammen thanks so much. we focus on the investigation and where it goes from here. casey wian is at the los angeles police department, joined by former fbi assistant director tom fuentes. tom, last night our los angeles affiliate kcal aired what appeared to be live scanner traffic or sound of a police officer, police officer's open mike. listen to this recording and tell us what you hear and weigh in on the other side. let's listen.

>> it sounds like police officials were trying to move carter out of the area and to a safer area. >> burn it down. >> burn that god [ bleep ] down. >> burn that [ bleep ] house down. burn it down. >> get going right now, [ bleep ], burn that [ bleep ]. >> okay so it sounds when you first hear it that police officers meant to set that cabin on fire, and burn it down. what did it sound like to you, tom? >> good morning, carol. i couldn't quite understand exactly what was being said in all of that, whether that was being said after it was already on fire and he was already inside it or you know, a police officer would not be issuing an order, that would not be a command to say burn it down or burn him down or let him burn inside. i think maybe once the fire was started and given the fact that he had been shooting and already killed an officer, just minutes before, and now was shooting at them in the heat of battle,

somebody may have just lost their emotions and said that, so i don't know, i'd like to hear the whole context and exactly the timing of the fire, the timing and exact wording of what was said. >> take us through how they managed to get or tried to get the man believed to be dorner out of that cabin. from what i understand, and believe me, none of this is confirmed, i'm just guessing along with everyone else, police had first threw a flash pot, you know, at the cabin to distract dorner and that would not have set a fire, right? >> well, various devices, the flash bangs and certain types of what are called tear gas grenade can see start a fire. they do involve smoke, they involve somewhat of an incendiary device and if the cabin is, you know, hit in the right location, it could start a fire. it wouldn't be done on purpose and the use of any of those devices would not be used until

they're absolutely certain there is no hostages inside and they only have dorner and they only have already made requests for him to surrender which obviously he had no intention of doing. >> the other thing i read and these are just reports, that the s.w.a.t. team moved in and then broke out the cabin windows, and then they pumped in some sort of gas to try to get this man out of the cabin. >> yeah, you know, we'll have to see for sure if they used all of those techniques. pumping in gas is a little bit of a difficult thing. normally from a distance, you would inject tear gas by firing it in there, a small canister, almost looks like a gigantic bullet would be fired through a window, it would go into the building and then start releasing what is commonly called tear gas. tear gas is actually a misnomer. it's not a gas. it's little particles that irritate the body, irritate mucm mucous membranes.

in order to get the particles airborne the device becomes a smoke grenade and the smoke carries the particle. it's not gas, it's a solid material that goes into the air and irritates the body. >> so then somehow this cabin burst into flames and maybe casey wian you can enlighten us on this. the fire department was not called in. so there was never any attempt to put out the fire at all. why was that? >> reporter: carol, i don't have any information on that. it was clear they allowed that structure to burn down. the focus of the investigation here at lapd headquarters is two-fold, one to try to determine if dorner had any accomplices. there have been concerns about potential accomplices since last week, a document filed by the u.s. marshal service an arrest warrant mentioned the possibility of accomplices. the lapd saying they will leave no stone unturned in trying to

find someone, anyone who may have helped and there's a lot of questions about how he was able to survive in the big bear area for six days. also, the identification of the remains found in that burnt out cabin is a priority. sheriff's department san bernardino county says they'll have to conduct forensic testing on that, those charred remains, we don't know what kind of shape they're in but it could be everything from dna to x-rays to dental records, carol. >> just to button this all up and i'll go back to tom for this question, i would assume firefighters were not allowed to get close to fight that fire because police feared for their lives if the man inside that cabin would start firing. >> that's correct, carol. normally as a matter of policy, s.w.a.t. teams when they deployed the fire department dploiz wi deploys with them and stays a safe distance away. because if they use flash bangs or the tear gas canisters they may create the fire or the subjects themselves may create a

fire but in this case he was believed to have a .50 caliber gun which disabled the engine block of one police car and killed many people so that particular weapon, that bullet would go through a fire truck like a hot knife through butter so they're not going to let a fire truck anywhere near that location based on the possibility he could still be there, he could still return fire and kill firemen. members of the fire department deal with danger every day, they have to deal with toxic fumes and possible gas canisters in a location that might explode and kill them, but it is not in their mission statement to go into a place and get shot at and potentially killed that way, so that's the police's job. they would not let fire trucks anywhere near the location until it was safe and they determined there was no possibility of fire personnel being shot at. having said that, by the time they believed it was safe enough pretty much the place was engulfed in flames and they

would not i think at that point necessarily want the fire department destroying the crime scene and putting water on a location that it's too late to save anyway. >> tom fuentes and casey wian and paul vercammen, thank you so much. hopefully some answers will be questioned throughout the day. it was one of the most emotional moments in the state of the union address, he plead ford a vote on new gun control proposals. >> gabby giffords deserves a vote, the families of newtown deserve a vote, the families of aurora deserve a vote, the families of oak creek and tucson and blacksburg and the countless other communities ripped open by gun violence, they deserve a simple vote. >> a standing ovation with more than two dozen family members of victims in the crowd. one of the family members coins us from capitol hill, sarah

katagan, mother from plainfield, new jersey, her 17-year-old son, spencer, was shot and killed in 2010, with her is democratic congressman rush holt who invited her as his guest to the state of the union. welcome to you both. thank you so much for being with us this morning. >> thank you, carol. >> thank you. >> sarah, i want to start with you. how did you feel after hearing that particular part of the president's speech when he mentioned the victims of gun violence? >> i was very pleased. i thought it was just wonderful to be in attendance at the occasion where we're actually considering doing something about gun control here in america. >> and congressman, do you feel that something will get done? because a lot of people are saying, you know, we're spending a lot of time talking about this issue, but nothing will really matter. >> well, that certainly was a dramatic moment and the president was speaking over an unusually loud cheering

congress. there was, you know, as he said, do this for the parents of that little girl from chicago, do this for gabby giffords, vote for, you know, have a vote, do these things. it was a very dramatic moment. i thought overall in this piece, in his speech, because of the new, i would say assertive approach of the president toward congress, we are going to see legislative action on gun violence protection, on immigration, on minimum wage, on early childhood education. i think this congress is probably going to move more legislatively than we have in the last two years, because of the president's new assertion. . >> the president wants an up or down on some kind of gun control legislation on the floor of the congress. >> that's right. >> i'd like you, sarah, to listen to what the nra president david keene said, what david

keene said, rather, when he was asked if the nra could support such a vote. >> we can't control the congress. the one thing that's sort of upsets me a little bit the president is trying to use emotion to force things through before they've been rationally debated, argued and examined, and that's a mistake because that's the way you get the bad policy. >> so sarah, what he's saying is there were so many families, victims of gun violence there, and it's pure emotion, not logical thinking, that may be driving the president's push for gun control. >> i disagree with that. the president's push for gun control, in my opinion, is based upon a lot of facts and statistics. how many more countless lives will we have to lose in america because of the lack of gun control legislation? i think it is high time if we can save one life or a million lives within our plans to do so,

if he has the power to do so now is the time to do it. >> congressman rush holt and sarah cadogan, thanks so much for being with us this morning. we appreciate it. >> thank you. >> thank you. sewage running down the walls, carpets soaked in urine. it's been four days since the cruise liner "triumph" lost power and conditions are beyond disgusting. >> he said that the conditions have gotten so bad that they're asking them to use the restroom in bags and they were eating onion sand wichwiches and that monday. >> a live report from mobile, alabama, where the disabled cruise liner is expected to finally arrive tomorrow. [ engin] [ male announcer ] we created the luxury crossover and kept turning the page, writing the next chapter for the rx and lexus. this is the pursuit of perfection. three words dad, e-trade financial consultants. they'll hook you up with a solid plan. wa-- wa-- wait a minute; bobby? bobby! what are you doing man?

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20 minutes past the hour. now to the cruise from hell. new pictures coming in to cnn of the men and women and children trapped on the carnival cruise ship "triumph." you can see many of them standing at the railing on the upper deck. cnn has heard from passengers on board who say it's simply too hot in the rooms below, that's why they're standing on deck, combined with reports of sewage running down the walls and urine-soaked carpets. the open air is the likely best place to be but for some of the

parents of those trapped on the ship the situation is nothing short of heartbreaking. ? she called me hysterical screaming and crying and she was scared not what was happening on board but afraid she'd never to geto see her mama again. the last when we say good-bye it was very hard. i didn't know if i'd ever see her or talk to her again. >> david mattingly is covering the story from mobile, alabama, where the disabled cruiseship is expected to finally dock tomorrow afternoon and paul callan is in new york watching out for the legal fallout. welcome to you both. let's start with you, david, what is the status of the cruiseship right now? >> reporter: we checked with the tugboat company, one of the tugs pushing this ship and they tell us about 160 miles out creeping

along still, five to seven miles per hour, but that far out the people on deck still cannot see any land, the view has not changed for them, so they are still just creeping along, just languishing out there, waiting, until they get here to this port here in mobile. this place is going to look like paradise to them when they finally get here tomorrow. there will be hotel rooms waiting for them, they'll get right away to hot showers, hot meals, and a nice, warm, dry bed with none of that horrible smell that they've been living with. the plumbing here is already ready to go working, a sheer luxury compared to what they've been living with for the past few days. carol? >> and david, this isn't the first time carnival "triumph" has had issues. tell us what's happened before with this ship. >> reporter: well just in the last couple of weeks they had a problem with the alternator there with the ship. they repaired the alternator and

yesterday corn value official c officials were saying that would have no connection with the fire that left the ship without any power. we do know they have had similar problems on another ship, this happened back in 2010 the carnival "splendor" ship in the pacific ocean, they had a fire, lost power h to be towed in to shore, supplies delivered to the people stuck on the ship, a similar situation there. now, when this ship gets to port here, it will be greeted by investigators from the u.s. coast guard and the national transportation safety board. they're going to be going on board to launch a probe into why this fire happened, to get to the bottom of it, to see if there is some sort of systemic problem that might be causing this. >> fascinating. so on that note, let's bring in call callan for the legal side of this story. i mean, is it possible that criminal charges could be filed

against someone connected to carnival cruise lines? >> i don't see criminal charges, carol. the cases against cruise lines are difficult. this ship is actually registered in the bahamas and ultimately the bahamian maritime investigating agency will get jurisdiction over it. i also looked at the carnival ticket this morning and you know they've got a big disclaimer in it that says you can't sue for emotional distress, pain and suffering, or psychological injuries, and here the passengers probably aren't going to have a lot of physical injuries, it's really anguish they're suing for. i think in the end tough sledding here in the lawsuit department. >> so what's written on that ticket, it's like, you're out of luck. >> well, u.s. lawyers would be scrambling to sue carnival and ironically there were press reports this very ship the "triumph" was delayed in port in galveston because of that suit

filed against the "costa concordia," the one that went aground off italy and there are $460 million worth of lawsuits in that case. they were threatening to seize the ship, the people who were suing in that case as security in the italian lawsuit. carnival had lawsuit troubles lately. >> you're not kidding. paul callan, david massingly many thanks to both of you. >> always nice to be with you, carol. christopher dorner, self-proclaimed revenge killer advocated gun control. ironic, isn't it? does his case teach us anything about guns? that's our talk back question today. [ woman ] ring. ring. progresso.

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police believe dorner had up to 30 guns while a fugitive in his facebook manifest toe he wrote "in the end i hope thaw realize the small arms i utilize should not be accessed with the ease that i obtained them, whether by executive order or through a bipartisan congress an assault weapons ban needs to be reinstituted, period. [ gunfire ] this comes from a man who hours before his apparent death sparked a gun battle that killed one deputy and wounded another. >> we have an officer down, officer down. >> we have an officer down. >> medic is in the air, med sick in the air. officer down. >> another officer down? >> while the cabin burned, president obama pleaded for stricter gun control bills to be brought to the floor.

>> gabby giffords deserves a vote. the families of newtown deserve a vote. the families of aurora deserve a vote. the families of oak creek and tucson and blacksburg and the countless other communities ripped open by gun violence, they deserve a simple vote. >> a lot of you are probably saying why should we care what an accused cold blooded murderer says? should dorner's words be even part of our conversation on guns or do they shed light on an issue that continues to divide and confuse many americans? it's a tough question and uncomfortable but i'm going to ask it anyway. does the dorner case teach us anything about guns? facebook doft com/car

facebook.com/carolcnn or tweet me @carolcnn. stories we're watching now in "the newsroom" 30 minutes past the hour, hundreds of people including students showed up in waterbury, connecticut, to dig out the city's schools from last week's blizzard. picking up a shovel earned the workers it 8.25 an hour. many told wfsb they're eager for schools to reopen. come able comcast expects to own all of nbc universal. comcast already owns 51% of the media giant and is paying $17 billion for general electric's 49% stake. the latest deal was not expected until next summer. it will give comcast full ownership of properties including nbc's broadcast and cable networks and universal studios. [ bell ringing ]. opening bell on wall street with the dow near an all-time high, stocks are poised to open higher just about an hour ago we learned retail sales climbed 0.1% in january, ringing the

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political buzz is your rapid-fire look at the best political topics of the day. three topics, 30 seconds on the clock, playing with us today, ron christie, former special assistant to president george w. bush and jason johnson, chief political correspondent for politic 365 and political science proof sore at ohio's hiram college. welcome to you both. >> good morning. >> good morning. >> honest wages for an honest day's work? that's how president obama characterized his state of the union call to boost the minimum wage to $9 an hour. but some small business owners already struggling with the cost of obama care may face a bigger cash crunch if the president's plan is approved. the question for you this morning, should the minimum wage be raised?

ron? >> carol, good morning, i don't think it should. if you look at my home state of california it's had a rather crippling effect to unemployment. you have chronically high unemployment in los angeles and san francisco, why? because a lot of the impact is disproportionately given to small businesses, small businesses pass that along to be consumers, it's a loss for the consumer and employee and i think it will do more harm than good. >> jason? >> it's a wonderful idea barack obama can magically pay for it. we think a living wage is reasonable and provided in certain other countries but the more important issue is can he pay for it? if barack obama cannot find a way to pay for people making a living wage he shouldn't make those promises in the state of the union. >> on to question number two, one of the most emotional moments of the night, president obama urged congress to take action on gun violence. >> hadiya's parents, nate and cleo, are in this chamber tonight, along with more than two dozen americans whose lives have been torn apart by gun

violence. they deserve a vote. gabby giffords deserves a vote. the families of newtown deserve a vote. the families of aurora deserve a vote. the families of oak creek and tucson and blacksburg and the countless other communities ripped open by gun violence, they deserve a simple vote. >> all right, it took a while but eventually republican house speaker john boehner stood up and he joined in the applause along with other republicans. so the question, will there be an up or down vote on gun control in congress? jason? >> probably not, but there should be. look, this is part of the new feisty i don't have to run for office again barack obama, and he called out the republicans in congress, just like he called out the supreme court when he was talking about citizens

united. congress should not be delaying these kinds of issues. republicans should be proud enough to take the political backlash of voting down these sorts of gun control issues. i think barack obama was absolutely right, we're not going to get a vote but the republicans should stop standing in the way. >> ron? >> i agree with jason. i think this is the feisty president barack obama who doesn't have to face the voters again. in that he doesn't have to face the voters again the politicians who do are very leery of having a gun control vote. when the president says gabby giffords deserves a vote, aurora deserves a vote, a vote on what? this what is the president's plan, the legislation he'd do to prevent the tragedies? he's very much on rhetorical in spirit but minimal on substance. no, i don't think anything will pass the congress this session. >> wow, you guys are doubters this morning. finally the president can be a tough act to follow for the person tapped to give the state of the union response. ask louisiana governor bobby

jindal whose 2009 appearance was panned by republicans as amateurish, simplistic and child irand michele bachmann her technical difficulties led to the awkward off camera glance and last night marco rubio, it was a bottle of water. everybody went oh, my goodness. for his part, rubio's laughing it all telling "good morning america" i needed water. what am i going to do? the question for you two is the state of the union response the kiss of death for up and coming politicians, ron? >> no, i don't think so. the most widely televised event in the united states is the super bowl, the next widely most attended event on television is the state of the union. marco rubio was reading a teleprompter. he decided he wanted to stop and have a sip of water. big deal. it's not a graveyard for him. he's the bright star for the republican future. give the guy a break. >> jason? >> it's the political kiss of death, like i said it's like being the drummer in "spinal

tap" it doesn't help people's careers and if you look at the state of the unions over the last 30 years only three times has the person who has given the rebuttal gotten anywhere, bill clinton, bob dole and paul ryan. if i were marco rubio i would have passed on this. it doesn't kill him 2016 but "saturday night live" is licking their chops right now. >> you're not kidding. thanks so both of you. >> pleasure, thank you. >> you're welcome. beyonce like you have never seen her before revealing personal details about her life in a new documentary. >> it was hard to relive some of those things, but i felt like i had a story to tell and hopefully it will inspire a lot of people. >> and who shows up at the premiere? oprah. hear what she has to say. all right that's a fifth-floor problem... ok. not in my house! ha ha ha!

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fame, fortune, beauty, it seems like beyonce has it all. she does. anyway, she doesn't think so. she wants you to know she struggles just like you. >> people see celebrities and they have money and fame, but i'm a human being. i cry. i get scared. i get nervous, just like everyone else. power is not given to you. you have to take it. >> but it's so much nicer when you can dry your tears with money, isn't it? i'm being so catty this morning. anyway, i and nischelle turner are laughing about this. >> the line of the day. >> i couldn't help it. okay, tell us about this documentary "life is but a dream." >> well it was quite a night on the red carpet for beyonce, carol. this film she's releasing in part and it reveals a different

side of her. listen to what she told us last night at the premiere. >> i've learned so much about myself and it's interesting that all of the mistakes and wonderful things in her life and being able to sit down and watch the past three or four years and edit them together. it was hard to relive some of those things, but i felt like i had a story to tell and hopefully it will inspire a lot of people. >> one of those people that she hopes it inspires is her 1-year-old daughter, blue ivy, because she says she did this film carol in part as a tribute to her daughter. >> oh, and there was someone else on the red carpet along with beyonce, that would be oprah. >> i know, right, talk about a power couple. our new york team says that it was really a scene when oprah came out to the carpet and the news spread she was going to talk to the press about the movie. oprah and beyonce just wrapped up an interview that will be

broadcast this weekend on oprah's own network. she wasn't talking about that interview. she was talking about the documentary. >> what she did was access that power in a way we have never seen anybody do. she opened herself up. she let us see her vulnerable side. she became for us not just this mythical goddess beyonce. >> right. >> she became, you know i said to her, she became a real woman to me. >> and that's really interesting that she says that because one of the things that beyonce -- well, because one of the things she apparently talked about in this film, carol, is the miscarriage that she suffered before she became pregnant with blue ivy, and that's something that we heard jay-z rap about it in a song but never heard beyonce talk about this so it's really showing her vulnerable side which you have to say you never see that from beyonce and the public. she's very much controlled, so

to see her kind of let it all out will be really interesting. >> i'm going to go see the documentary on your recommendation, nischelle turner. >> all right, carol. >> thanks so much. >> dry those tears with money. >> with my money! 2,700 dogs competed in the westminster kennel dog club show thing. which pooch was named top banana. t to make someone happy.♪ ♪it's so important to make someone happy.♪ ♪make just one someone happy ♪and you will be happy too.

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it is 50 minutes past the

hour, fime to check the top story ands. we're getting our first live pictures from kabc, chopper shots of the burned-out cabin in the mountains of california. authorities believe christopher dorner barricaded himself inside a cabin which was eventually somehow set on fire. it will take days to confirm that a charred body found inside that cabin is indeed christopher dorner. dorner had vowed deadly vengeance for his 2008 firing and is accused of killing two police officers and a daughter of a retired officer and her fiance. you can say it in german, dutch or spanish because this westminster kennel club dog show understands them all. ba nan that joe is a black affenpinscher. he won best in show at the premier canine event, it was his last event. joe's handler said he's heading home to the netherlands to retire. dolls for girls? trucks for boys? not so fast.

toy makers are recasting their top sellers to appeal to kids and parents across traditional gender lines. recent addition to toy store aisles include a hot pink nerf gun, pastel-colored leggos and a construction-themed barbie. why does everything girly have to be pink? just asking. there's a new man keeping watch over the staples center. meet will ferrell, actor, comedian and now security guard. ♪ [ male announcer ] when we built the cadillac ats from the ground up to be the world's best sport sedan... ♪ ...people noticed. ♪ the all-new cadillac ats -- 2013 north american car of the year. ♪ for a limited time, take advantage of this exceptional offer on the all-new cadillac ats.

"talk back" question this morning, does the dorner case teach us anything about guns? this from jeff. no, it took a human being to forethem. an evil, revengeful, spiteful man and criminal. regardless of what dosher said his actions confirmed we need stricter laws on guns so people crazy like him can't obtain them with such ease. this one from nick, the one thing we should learn from the dorner case, it's not the guns dangerous but the people behind them. this from trisha, yeah, it does teach us but no matter how many innocent lives are lost idiots will always like guns and want them. and dan said what dorner did was not about guns, he chose to use guns to deal with his problems. keep the conversation going facebook.com/carolcnn. more of your comments after the break. here we go. ♪

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in the nba there's no one hotter right now than king james. oh, but prince fielder, he becomes larger than life. joe carter here with bleacher report. >> hi, good morning, carol. erik spoelstra the head coach of the miami heat said lebron james is making the greatness thing easy, he's rolling and so are the heat last night, they beat the trail blazers and lebron scored 30 points again over the last six wins. he's put together a historic performance in six games scoring at least 30 points while making

60% of his shots, the first player in nba history to be that efficient and that consistent over that six-game stretch. >> for me to be in the record books by myself with such a stat, any stat, it's big time and it's a -- you know, it's a tribute to not only, you know, myself -- i don't care about myself, but my teammates are allowing me to do that and my coaching staff put me in a position to succeed and i just try to go out and do it. >> prince fielder tips the scale at 275 it's only fitting that he'd be on the world's largest baseball card, the topps baseball company unveiled it and it measures 90 feet by 60 feet. and will ferrell is known to do anything for a laugh and at the lakers game he was dressed as a security guard and red jacket and he even booted a fan from the game. shaquille o'neal was the fan, of course, he played along with the funny antics. he is currently shooting "anchor man ii" which is why he's

sporting the big mustache and the name tag is not ron burgundy it's a name i cannot repeat and you can find out on the internet if you want to know. for all your sports news go to bleacherreport.com. >> i can understand you saying the name. i knew you wouldn't say the name, joe carter. >> i wouldn't have a job tomorrow. >> you would, too. go on the internet and find out. joe, thank you very much, joe carter. i'm still laughing about it. next hour of "cnn newsroom" next hour of "cnn newsroom" starts now. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com happening now, dorner's reign of toor is over and it ends as violently as it began. radio calls from officers. >> of officer down. >> we have an officer down. officer down. >> copy, officer down. >> medic ships in the air. medic ships in the air. >> another officer down. >> the manhunt over as the president pleads for stricter gun laws.

>> the two months since newtown, more than 1,000 birthdays, graduations, anniversaries have been stolen from our lives by a bullet from a gun. plus, the carnival cruise from hell on its way to alabama but it ain't over yet. hey, passengers, want to go home? take a bus! and "sports illustrated's" cover girl. fat? or big boned? >> the expedition leaders would be, like, well, think of the explorers back in the day, they didn't have a nice cruise ship to come back to. i'm not an explorer, i'm a bikini model! >> oy vay, "newsroom" starts now. and good morning. thank you so much for being with me. i'm carol costello. we begin in southern california where an accused ex-cop killer is believed dead. you are looking at big bear where a massive shootout took

place, christopher dorner's former bosses at the lapd are holding a news conference live next hour and we'll carry it. police say it will take days to confirm a charred body found inside this cabin is actually christopher dorner the former cop who vowed deadly vengeance for his firing. this video from our cbs affiliate in los angeles, dorner was spotted yesterday near big bear lake. he crashed a stolen car and then carjacked another vehicle that belonged to a camp ranger who just happened to be driving by. >> he came up to me with his gun pointed at me and i stopped my truck, put it in park, raised my hands and he said, i don't want to hurt you. just get out and start walking up the door and take your dog which is what i did. >> dorner is blamed for killing one deputy and wounding another in yesterday's shootout that follows these victims from last week. he's accused of killing police officer michael crane and minutes earlier he had allegedly killed keith lawrence and his

fiancee, kwan was the daughter of an ladp officer who dorner blamed for his firing from the police department. paul vcaman walks through the reign of terror. >> shots fired. >> reporter: what happened in mountains around big bear, fast moving and often confusing. first, two names are reportedly tied up, their nissan stolen. >> they were driving down highway 32 and they were approaching two buses. they passed the two buses and they noticed tucked in behind the bus was the suspect vehicle. >> reporter: the pursuit was on. within moments, he crashes and carjacks a pickup truck. the suspect a man who looks like christopher dorner. >> the warden who was in front realized -- noticed a white truck coming down, driving erratically at a pretty high rate of speed. he took a close look at the driver. and recognized him as the suspect. >> reporter: the suspect rolls down his window and opens fire,

a shootout ensues. he takes off and barricades himself inside a cabin. police converge by land and air, then another shootout captured on a reporter's cell phone. radio calls from the officers -- >> officer down. returning fire. >> returning fire. >> reporter: and then -- >> we have an officer down. officer down. >> copy, officer down. >> medic ships in the air. medic ships in the air. >> officer down. >> reporter: one deputy is killed, another wounded and expected to survive. it's not over yet. >> copy, one, two, corner. >> reporter: the cabin goes up in flames. >> 61 lincoln we have an explosion. >> reporter: the question, is christopher dorner inside that cabin. over the next few hours confirmations, denials, and dueling news conferences. >> any reports of a body being

found are not true. >> we believe that there -- that the person that barricaded himself inside the cabin and engaged in gunfire with our deputies and other law enforcement officers is still inside there. >> reporter: finally, close to midnight pacific time, the san bernardino sheriff's office confirms charred remains have indeed been found inside the burned-out cabin. and now back here live amid all the chaos crisscrossing this mountain last night i caught up with the reporter so close to the shots fired, carter evans a former cnn colleague. off camera carter told me he was flat below his vehicle for safety's sake. he could hear the bullets whizzing by and he felt if he were ten more feet up the road he would have been hit. back to you now, carol. >> so scary, thank you so much. a big question in this case, is why dorner would turn to this kind of violence, this terrible

violence. jim clemente is a former fbi profiler and joins us now live. thank you so much for being here, sir. >> good morning, carol. >> this case seems so unusual to me. is dorner an unusual victim -- or an unusual perpetrator in your mind? >> well, i mean, he's of a certain class of offender, i think, and i think we've seen these things in -- in the school shootings, in the public shootings, in the mass shootings and justice collectors. people who basically spend their whole lives building up, waiting for a chance to get revenge, and this is what he did. but i think his psychology's a little more complex than the average school shooter in that i think he was also a vulnerable narcissist where he really felt like he had to portray himself as a very big and accomplished person, but, in fact, inside he had this -- the reality that he was actually, you know, not going to be able to live up to anything that he was talking about. i think his actions in the last

few days show that. >> he seemed to go one terrible step farther. he targeted not just the victims he blamed for his firing from the lapd, but he targeted their family members. >> right. and i think if you actually look at what he did, his stated objection was to harm the lapd, to get back at them, but actually he had no direct confrontation with the lapd. he actually went to basically easier targets, people that were much more vulnerable. and by the way, i want to send out my sympathies to the families of all the victims of this murderer. but the fact is he did not go head-on with lapd, who he said that he had his biggest contentions with. and he went after people who really didn't suspect him at first, suspect that he was coming after them, just, you know -- just, you know, average citizens. and then he engaged police officers who were outside of los angeles. >> so, was there anything that

the lapd could have done to kind of predict that this guy might go off the deep end? >> well, i think he went through -- i'm certain he went through a psychological testing when he applied and passed those psychological tests. i don't think that he had any kind of mental disorder that was discernible at the time. i think this is something that developed over time and he made the affirmative decision and probably planned these actions for the last three or four years after he was fired and his appeals were shut down. so, i think it's something that he basically stewed over a period of time and then there was a tipping point when he actually started this horrendous action. >> jim clemente, former fbi profiler, thank you so much for sharing your thoughts today. >> thank you. well, a gun battle was going on in california, the president of the united states was getting ready for his state of the union in washington. president obama addressed everything from gun control to immigration to tax reform.

>> now is our best chance for bipartisan, comprehensive tax reform that encourages job creation and helps bring down the deficit. we can get this done. the american people deserve a tax code that helps small businesses spend less time filling out complicated forms and more time expanding and hiring. a tax code that ensures billionaires with high-powered accountants can't work the system and pay a lower rate than their hardworking secretaries. our economy is stronger when we harness the talents and ingenuity of striving, hopeful immigrants, and right now leaders from the business, labor, law enforcement, faith communities, they all agree, that the time has come to pass comprehensive immigration

reform. now's the time to do it. now's the time to get it done. each of these proposals deserves a vote in congress. now, if you want to vote no, that's your choice. but these proposals deserve a vote! because in the two months since newtown, more than 1,000 birthdays, graduations, anniversaries have been stolen from our lives by a bullet from a gun. >> of course, the gop and the tea party movement are not on board with the president's guns plans. we're going to talk a lot more about this with our special "talk back" panel that will come your way later this hour. checking our top stories -- we're now learning when the

pope's successor will be chosen. it's likely to begin in mid-march, in less than an hour the pope presides over his last ash wednesday mass at st. peters basilica, earlier he told a cheering crowd at the vatican he decided to resign, quote, for the benefit of the church. four football players from alabama are facing criminal charges, they beat two fellow players and stole a laptop from one victim and a wallet from another. one of the players is accused of joining one of the attackers and using a stolen debit card. all have been suspended indefinitely from the team. raw sewage running down the walls and still 160 miles to go. we'll have the latest on carnival "triumph" as it finally makes its way to land. (dog) larry,larry,larrryyy.

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then you're going to love this. right now they're only $14.95! wow-a grt deal just got a whole lot better. hurry. $14.95 won't last. 14 minutes past the hour. let's talk about that disabled cruise ship from hell, the carnival "triumph" is now 160 nautical miles away from mobile,

alabama, it's not expected to arrive on shore until tomorrow afternoon. according to one mother whose daughter is on board that ship it cannot hit land soon enough. >> he said that the conditions have gotten so bad that they're asking them to use the restroom in bags and they were eating onion sandwiches and that was on monday. >> oh. the national transportation safety board is now joining the investigation in to what sparked the engine room fire on sunday that crippled the ship and as sandra endo reports this isn't the first time carnival has dealt with one of their ships adrift at sea. >> reporter: crowding the upper deck for some fresh air, more than 4,000 people on board the carnival "triumph" are trapped in horrid conditions. >> the smells are -- i can't describe them. there's sewage, raw sewage, um, pretty bad. when you walk in the hallways, you have to cover your face. >> reporter: intermittent power,

overflowing toilets, and a three-hour wait for food. >> there's times when the ship is leaning pretty hard, and you're worried if you're going to flip over. >> reporter: carnival blames that on 25-mile-per-hour winds, but a maritime expert says the ship's stabilization system is likely disabled and although there's an emergency generator, it's not enough to run an entirely electric ship. >> they have to make sure there's adequate power to keep the ship from sinking or burning further. and usually emergency power is dedicated to activities like that. >> reporter: and moving more than 4,000 people to another ship could be dangerous out at sea and in unpredictable weather. lifeboats are a last resort. the "triumph" experienced an electrical problem with one of its alternators about a week ago, but carnival says it was fixed, passed inspection and had nothing to do with the recent engine fire. >> and, again, we still have no

power, so we're unable to cook any hot food, provide hot drinks, et cetera. >> reporter: two years ago an engine fire on carnival "splendor" left thousands in similar conditions for two days in the pacific ocean. >> unfortunately i think with carnival, this is a -- just a bad coincidence for them that it's happened on two of their ships in this market. i -- i've no reason to believe that carnival is any way not a first-class operator. >> the coast guard and the ntsb have not yet determined the cause of the fire on the "splendor" so it will take some time to figure out what happened in this case, but they have launched an investigation. sandra endo, cnn, washington. how about a pay raise for 15 million americans? that's the president's bold call to action from last night's state of the union, but not everyone is on board with raising the minimum wage. we'll talk about that. [ nurse ] i'm a hospice nurse. britta olsen is my patient.

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at 20 minutes past the hour let's turn to your money. the president issued a bold proposal in his state of the union calling on congress to

raise the minimum wage for more than 15 million americans. alison kosik is at the new york stock exchange, so does his wish have a chance in hades? >> well, not everybody, carol, is on board with this. remember, minimum wage is a very, very contentious issue and most would agree, you know, it's not a bad thing to pay people more, but there is another side to this. there are others who say if you hike minimum wage from $7.25 to where it is now to $9, it would be a job killer, new regulations, health care requirements, the small businesses wouldn't be able to afford it and they say they two cut workers' hours and hiring fewer people. and then there are those who say raising minimum wage is long overdue. president obama pledged to raise it during the first term in office though he didn't follow through with it. one liberal-leaning group said that federal minimum wage hasn't kept up with inflation and estimates are if it kept with the pace of the cost of living

it would actually be closer to $10.50 an hour now. now, in 18 stapt states plus th district of coluof columbia, th that but not much more. it's still below the poverty threshold for a family of four, pretty sad, carol. >> let me ask you about the 19 states who, you know, states can also raise the minimum wage, they don't have to wait for the federal government. for the 19 states has it is affected the economic picture? >> and that's the thing, you know, you raise it incrementally and that's what i said, that even if you raise it to $9 let's just say, you know, it's still below the poverty threshold for a family of four. and then even just to get this through congress, good luck with that, because, you know, the last time law makers approved a similar bill, it was back in 2007. and, you know, democratic lawmakers, they've tried to hike the rate since then and it really winds up going nowhere, so that's why you see these states making these incremental

changes, carol? >> alison kosik at the new york stock exchange. michelle obama's favorite designer was past last night, we'll tell you who designed the sparkly crimson and black cocktail dress and why so many people did not seem to like it. [ nyquil bottle ] hey tylenol, you know we're kinda like twins. [ tylenol bottle ] we are?

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come april cable giant comcast expected to own all of nbc universal, they already own 51% of the media giant and will pay $17 billion for general electric's 49% stake. the latest deal was not expected until next summer. it will give comcast full ownership of properties including nbc's broadcast and cable networks and universal studios. julian assange is famous for leaking official state secrets and now it looks like the wikileaks founder wants to become an official member of the state. assange has filed paperwork to run for senate in his native australia.

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and welcome to our new half hour show tack balk three hot topics and great guests and, of course, your comments. first up, first "talk back" question, does the dorner case teach us anything about guns? christopher dorner self-justified killer and gun control advocate, ironic, yeah? police believe dorner had up to 30 guns while a fugitive. yet in his facebook manifesto dorner wrote, quote, in the end i hope you will realize that the small arms i utilize should not be accessed with ease that i obtained them, whether by executive order or through a

bipartisan congress an assault weapons ban needs to be reinstated period. this comes from a man who hours before his apparent death sparked a gun battle that killed one deputy and wounded another. >> we have an officer down. officer down. >> copy, officer down. >> medic ships in the air. medic ships in the air. >> officer down. >> another officer down? >> while the cabin burned, president obama pleaded for stricter gun bills to be brought to the floor. >> gabby giffords deserves a vote. the families of newtown deserve a vote. the families of aurora deserve a vote. the families of oak creek and tucson and blacksburg and the countless other communities ripped open by gun violence, they deserve a simple vote.

>> a lot of you are probably saying why should we care what a cold-blooded killer says? should his words even be part of our conversation on guns? or do they shed light on an issue that continues to divide and confuse many americans? i know it's a tough question and it's uncomfortable, but i'm going to ask it anyway this morning. "talk back" question does the dorner case teach us anything about guns? so let's start the conversation now. joining me are jason johnson, chief political correspondent for politic 365 and hiram college political science professor, and cnn contributor and "new york times" op-ed columnist roth dowthed, and welcome to you all. >> good morning. >> good morning. we'll start with this very tough topic and i'll start with you, jason, do we care what dorner has to say about guns? >> yes. because he says a lot about more than just guns. he tells us a lot about how our

urban police departments are working, he telephones us about corruption and institutionalized racism, his story is the kind of testimony that we need to take a look at how america operates in general. yes, it's too easy for people to get access to guns. yes, we don't have enough proper mental health care for people that come back and serve and, yes, we need to do a lot more work within our police departments and make sure corruption does not permeate everything. i think this case is very telling and important. >> but, ross, the guy was so vile and evil it's easy to dismiss any thought he might have had. >> i don't think we should dismiss his thoughts out of hand. crazy people can make good points in the course of coming to evil conclusions, but i'm going to go out a limb and give my liberal friends a lot of credit and saying they can probably come up with better arguments for gun control than the rantings of this guy in his facebook manifesto. and i also think it's a little bit extraordinary that we're having a conversation like this and compared to the conversation

we had, say, after the jared lee lofner shooting of gabby giffords, now you have a psychotic killer who has published a manifesto that expresses basically left-wing ideas and the takeaway is supposed to be that we should enact left-wing policy proposals? it seems like there's a slight double standard in how the media reacts to these kind of rampages, don't you think? >> well, i'd have to kind of agree with you, ross. let's go to ben and let him take this on. >> well, first of all, i think, you know, we have a family that's grieving right now. it's very hard for me to kind of make the shift away from the death and destruction from yesterday. those men who were shot, the officer who lost his life, they were doing nothing but their

job. they were trying to keep us safe. those families are shocked and devastated. if they have any relatives or friends that are watching this, i think they would be a little disturbed to hear us, you know, going on talking about a facebook manifesto. there are many better spokespersons for the cause of racial justice than this murderer. there are many better spokespersons in los angeles who have been working for the reform of that police department through legal and lawful means and they're not being discussed. i think we're going down a very dangerous road. i think the people who deserve to be talked about today are the victims of this violence and the legitimate people who have been trying to make positive change in peaceful, lawful ways. i don't want to reference him in any way except for what he was, which was someone very disturbed, as ross said, maybe some good points on the way to a very, very despicable acts, my heart goes out to the families. >> jason, you're the odd man out. >> yeah, i think sometimes the extreme behavior of disturbed people, it can be telling.

it doesn't have to be an either/or. just because he identifies the fact that the l.a. police department works like training day, doesn't mean that there aren't local people who also should be given a voice. but i do think when someone has, you know, preexplained mental difficulties, when someone says, yes, i have problems, when they say the stress and difficulty and lack of feedback that i get in this position may have influenced me behaving in this way, i do think that's telling. it doesn't make him, you know, the rosa parks of gun violence, but i do think his story is telling and the kind of thing we can learn from, it doesn't have to be an either/or. >> ross, i want to say one more thing. we always want to know why killers kill, we want to know why. so, what's the problem with figuring out what this man's thoughts were and trying to figure out how to stop violent actions from happening again? >> that agree with, i agree with you 100%. the only thing i'm saying to then go and pull his political ideas forward and polish those up, that's where i draw the line. i think it's a question of mental health and the questions of the other issues are

perfectly fine. i don't want to validate his political thinking while people are literally planning funerals. >> and ross, button this up. >> i would just say that i'm pro-life, for instance. and there are obviously cases where americans who are opposed to abortion go nuts, take matters into their own hands, shoot abortion doctors, commit horrible crimes, and i wouldn't think it was appropriate for me to come on cnn after something like that happened and said, well, this just shows that this person was driven to the crime by the evil of abortion. i think van is absolutely right. in these kind of moments, you know, you want to focus on the victims, you want to condemn the crime and you want to save the political points the person may have been inspired by for a more appropriate time. >> okay, well, let's turn to our facebook page because, of course, we care what our friends have to say about this, too, "talk back" question of the day, does the dorner case teach us anything about guns? this from terry, he was trying to cause more confusion for those of us who enjoy guns especially law enforcement, obviously he cared less about the lives of others. and amanda, dorner has the point about the ease with which a

person can obtain a weapon. gun control laws are just as useless as an umbrella in a monsoon. keep the conversation going. facebook.com/carolcnn. or tweet me at kraicarolcnn. still to come on "talk back," should the minimum wage be raised? the usual, bob? not today. [ male announcer ] bob has afib: atrial fibrillation not caused by a heart valve problem, a condition that puts him at greater risk for a stroke. [ gps ] turn left. i don't think so. [ male announcer ] for years, bob took warfarin, and made a monthly trip to the clinic to get his blood tested. but not anymore. bob's doctor recommended a different option: once-a-day xarelto®. xarelto® is the first and only once-a-day prescription blood thinner for patients with afib not caused by a heart valve problem, that doesn't require routine blood monitoring. like warfarin, xarelto® is proven effective to reduce the risk of an afib-related stroke. there is limited data on how these drugs compare

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or bleeding problems. ready to change your routine? ask your doctor about once-a-day xarelto®. for more information including cost support options, call 1-888-xarelto or visit goxarelto.com. it's delicious. so now we've turned her toffee into a business. my goal was to take an idea and make it happen. i'm janet long and i formed my toffee company through legalzoom. i never really thought i would make money doing what i love. [ robert ] we created legalzoom to help people start their business and launch their dreams. go to legalzoom.com today and make your business dream a reality. at legalzoom.com we put the law on your side. our second "talk back" topic of the day, should the minimum wage be raised? president obama says he wants to help more americans make it into

the middle-class. one way to do that, pay them more. >> tonight, let's declare that in the wealthiest nation on earth no one who works full time should have to live in poverty and raise the federal minimum wage to $9 an hour. we should be able to get that done. >> and link the minimum wage to inflation, sounds good, right? 19 states have a higher minimum wage than the national one. expect pushback, though. we're already hearing complaints from small business owners who will be paying more for employee insurance under obama care and from congress house budget chairman paul ryan says linking the minimum wage to inflation will only hurt, not help, the working poor. so, the "talk back" question, should the minimum wage be raised and i'll start with you, ross, but keep in mind when the president mentioned raising the minimum wage the twitterverse went crazy, 24,000 tweets per

minute. people are very into this topic, i'll ask you, should the minimum wage be raised? >> well, there are two problems with raising the minimum wage as policy, as policy to help low-income americans, and the first is a possibility that you end up with businesses cutting back on hiring basically, saying, well, we aren't going to be able to hire that extra worker obviously at a time of high unemployment and particularly high low-skilled unemployment. and there's a lot of debate about this among economists, but some possibility that that's a real problem. the other problem is you encourage off-the-books hiring, right? you encourage people to say, well, i'll hire you for $7 an hour but i'm not going to, you know, pay taxes on it, report it and so on. and this links up in certain ways to the debate over illegal immigration, where if we're trying to move people out of the shadows, if president obama supports a path to citizenship and so on, policies that encourage a black market in labor could end up having the opposite effect. that's a real problem, there are just other ways to boost incomes.

things like the payroll tax cut which both parties sort of allowed to expire during the last -- during the last budget debate, the earned income tax credit. basically policies that end up increasing take-home pay without penalizing employers i think are a better way to go about that. >> okay, van, if uf raiyou rais minimum wage, they two only be making $18,000 a year. >> but they'd still be making a couple thousand more than they would have. here's the thing, this is almost an article of faith for both parties. luckily now there's actual statistical data. you can beat the average when it comes to economic performance. that this will tank the economy, hurt the economy is not true. the one thing that's important to point out, on the one hand it may make it harder for the one more marginal hire at first, but more people will be walking

around with money in their pockets and that same store owner will have more customers. the other thing i think has not been talked about at all and i don't know why, we have now the top 500 companies in america have $1.5 trillion in cash that they're just sitting on. these are not companies that are being tax to death, regulated to death, they can barely hang on. the top 500 companies are sitting on $1.5 trillion in cash, if those companies are encouraged to pay their workers a little bit better, that's more money into the economy and that's a good thing. >> jason, you would encourage business owners to pay people more, but they look at their bottom line, they're in it to make money! >> yeah, right. >> they're doing just fine. >> if you can pay somebody in india $2 that's what they'll do unfortunately. usually members in congress on the right and left let them get away with it. here's the issue, tough raise the minimum wage, there are businesses negatively affected and it becomes more expensive. but here's the larger issue, $9,

$18,000 a year, what the poor need is functional health care, what the poor really need in this country is halfway decent streets, what poor people need in this country is mass transportation that's affordable. what is $9 if you are paying $3.50 a gallon for gas? minimum wage, improving it is great, but there are other ways that people could be helped that obama could get involved in that will bolster the value of the minimum wage increase. i don't think this should beef the beginning and end of the story. >> ross, nipg that tanything th president comes up with has to go through congress and there's already a rumor going through that paul ryan rolled his eyes. >> is it a rumor or can we confirm it on videotape? no, i think this is -- the state of the union included a few policies that might have some chance of actually passing, it included a number of things the president intends to do by executive order and you had a lot of issues like the minimum wage where he's basically laying down a marker and trying to in certain ways you could say move

the center left. i think there's sort of a policy vacuum on the right right now, republicans still don't have a clear alternative agenda of their own and i think the president sees an opportunity even with bills that aren't necessarily going to pass to say here's what i want to do for the working class, here's what i want to do for the middle-class, and if republicans say no, well, then, we'll go beat you in 2014. >> van, round it out for us. >> this idea, you are saying it's a left-wing idea, this is the most popular idea in american politics. 85% of americans agree that this was the most popular line in the speech even more so than guns. this is -- this is dead in the middle center. it's just that the right now's so far to the right that it's seen as a left-wing idea to do something that 85% of the country wants to do. >> okay. >> i just say something can be left wing and popular, right? >> yes. and it's a good idea. >> it happens. >> whoo! we have, like, nirvana now. we want to hear from the facebook friends, the "talk back" question should the minimum question be raised.

you are doggone right it should be raised, slavery ended years ago and hourly workers usually do the most work. and this from david, only if you want the cost of everything sold in america going up. and employers will have to pass the higher wage cost on to the consu consumers. please keep the conversation going at cnnnewroom@cnn.com or tweet me @carolcnn. the last "talk back" question of the morning -- given the state of the union response, the political kiss of death? [ anouncer ] ihop is in time square to compare new griddle-melts to your usual breakfast sandwich.

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our final "talk back" question today -- is giving the state of the union response like the kiss of death? they're calling it the gulp. it happened when senator marco

rubio was responding to the president's state of the union. >> the short time that i've been here in washington, nothing has frustrated me more than false choices like the one the president laid out tonight. the choice isn't just between big government or big business. what we need is an accountable, efficient and effective government. >> that was just so unfortunate. you can bet the gulp and not rub rubio's plea for smaller government is what most people are going to remember, but, hey, rebutting the president's ovation-filled speech is never easy. others have flopped, remember bobby jindal's awkward fol folkysyness and you remember michele bachmann's sideways stare, nobody could figure out what the heck she was looking at. but before speaking it really helps to know where your camera and your water are at all times, so the "talk back" question, is giving the state of the union response the kiss of death? jason, i'll start with you.

why bother with the republican response? why not do it the next day? >> yeah, i don't know why people don't do it the next day. i've said if you look at history over the last 30 years you've had dozens and dozens of people take on this role. only three times has it actually led to somebody being on the ticket, bill clinton, bob dole, and paul ryan. i think it's important for the out party to have a response, but i don't necessarily -- if marco rubio thinks that this going to springboard him into being the republican nominee, i think he's incredibly naive. but ultimately he just didn't do that good a job, he contradicted much of what his party stood for and it wasn't his best performance and isn't going to help him or harm him going for 2016. >> ross, i would posture the president's speech ends at 10:00 at night, are people going to stay awake and listen to marco rubio's response? >> well, no, probably not. i mean, yes. look, these kind of responses are the ultimate thankless job and yet they're a job that's often given to rising stars,

potential leaders and so on, so you have a sort of clis ollisio potential and possibility and the grim sort of competing with the president, you are speaking without an audience and so on. i think the gulp aside, rubio did -- probably did what hei th sort of the immediate response among republicans, which is really his real audience for that -- for those remarks, the response was pretty favorable. and i think that that's sort of -- this is a speech that won't be -- won't be remembered the way jindal's and bachmann's were -- >> thank god for that. >> republicans want to like marco rubio, that's the story right now, that's why he was given the state of the union response. i don't think the fact that he, you know, reached for a water bottle is going to change that. because the party thinks that he's the man to rebrand them right now. >> yeah, but, van, all i -- all i will remember -- stop that, ross! all i will remember is rubio

going for that water bottle. i won't remember anything he said! >> right. >> well -- >> most people won't. >> let me say a couple things about this. first of all, i'm very glad he reached for that water bottle. rubio is dangerous for democrats. i'm so glad that we're talking about him and that we're joking about him, because right when he reached for that water bottle, he was reaching an emotional part of that speech when he stepped on and he found it again at the end of that speech. the last 90 seconds of that speech shows the danger that he poses to democrats. he is to the heart what paul ryan is to the head. i'm not saying he's not also equally intelligent, but he can connect emotionally, the democrats dodged a bullet. we've not heard the last from marco rubio. i want to talk about not what he -- what he was, you know, not able to say with the water bottle. some of the stuff that he said is kind of scary. he voted against the violence against women act the day before, a few hours before. but -- so this guy has a very extreme record.

he's very much like paul -- rand paul, his record, so you got a guy with a very extreme record. and yet he can connect emotionally. he's dangerous for democrats. i think people can chuckle today. they're going to be worried about this guy tomorrow. >> i know you want to jump in, jason, marco rubio was on "good morning america," he said, hey, i was thirsty, what do you expect me to do? he showed a very human side that made him very real to people. >> the fact that he can laugh about it really helps him out but, you know, reality is for most people who aren't heavily into news, all they're going to know is what "saturday night live" says about this over the weekend so, again, it's not necessarily all that helpful for him but i also think it's important to remember, you know, marco rubio contradicted much of his own party. and i think it's telling. watch rand paul and the tea party response right afterwards, he still represents a broken party. he still represents a republican party that still wants to fight the wars of the last 10 to 15 years and doesn't really have much of a future and i don't think he really helped coalesce the party at all with the

speech. "time" may call him the republican sayio ysavior, i thie still looking. >> we'll have to wrap it up because there's a live press conference coming up from the lapd. facebook friends, i want to read your responses. the question is -- is giving the state of union response the kiss of death? give the man a break. even our pastor gets thirsty and grabs a drink. don't make a mountain out of a he mill. it may be the audition for the real thing if they want to run for president and the media will be a lot more picky than simon cowell everything will be. keep the conversation going, facebook.com/carolcnn, or tweet me @carolcnn. coming up at the top of the hour, the lapd will be giving us the latest on the manhunt for christopher dorner, actually they'll be giving us the latest whether the charred body in the burned-out cabin is indeed of that of christopher dorner. i have low testosterone. there, i said it.

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now is always the time to go forward. and reimagine all the possibilities that lie before us. an ally for real possibilities. aarp. find tools and guidance at aarp.org/possibilities. thank you for joining me this morning, i'm carol costello. "newsroom" continues right now with ashleigh banfield. >> thank you very much, carol. and a lot to cover. a carjack, a gunfight, a cabin fire, a corpse. in southern california this hour, the hunt for a cop turned killer may be over, but i repeat, it just may be over. there are still so many questions that remain. police may answer some of them just moments from now. also, no power, few toilets, dwindling food and still another full day away from reaching

land. just try to imagine the nightmare on that disabled carnival cruise ship, and then imagine your children are there without you. i'm going to speak to two desperate mothers. and jodie arias, she admits she killed her ex-boyfriend. she hopes an x-rated phone chat will be something that helps get her acquitted. i'm going to play some of that, what the jurors actually heard in open court in just moments. but we begin with what appears to be christopher dorner's fiery last stand. any second now police in los angeles are due to brief reporters on the final hours of a manhunt for the fired l.a. cop who waged war on his comrades. we know a burned corpse was recovered from the cabin where dorner holed up near big bear east of los angeles. but we do not have the scientific confirmation yet that that corpse is, in fact, dorner's. we also don't know how the cn